The Role Of Eckleburg And Owl Eyes In 'The Great Gatsby'

Improved Essays
Furthermore some critics believe that Owl Eyes could represent God. Owl Eyes appears to be God when he was in the library in the same spectacles as Dr. Eckleburg, when he was in the car accident and had no injuries, and when he was at the funeral at the end of the story. Owl Eyes spectacles were a give away. Then, when he got out of the wrecked car, he was untouched; during the car accident, no one even knows why owl eyes was there. however, he was in the car accident. He seemed to be everywhere like God is. At the end of the story, Owl Eyes was at the funeral and one other. As a reader, it is inferred that Owl Eyes, like God, never judged Gatsby and loved him; that is why he attended the funeral.Throughout the story, there are many religious relations between Owl eyes and Eckleburg. Though they are thought to be the same person, Eckleburg and Owl Eyes are two different individuals. Eckleburg seems to be the God figure in the story rather than Owl Eyes. …show more content…
Owl Eyes does seem to be similar to God; however, the role is already filled by Eckleburg. In the library, Owl Eyes had on spectacles. “… a stout, middle ages man, with enormous spectacles( ). In chapter two it describes, “The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic… They look out from no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles… ( )”. So this makes a reader believe, Owl Eyes is looking through the eyes of God. If Owl Eyes is looking through the eyes of God, how can he be God? I find it quite obvious that Eckleburg is God when Tom tries to justify for his wrong doings. Tom explains, “it does her good to get away…( )”. Never once did anyone try to justify their action to owl eyes. So again I ask, is Owl Eyes God? According to Chris Schroeder, “Dr. Eckleburg is a more fully developed symbol… God-figure”. After reading the ideas of Schroeder and Savage, a reader can conclude that Owl Eyes is not God; however, Owl Eyes is close to

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Societal Factors in The Great Gatsby vs. Their Eyes were Watching God In our society, social status has always been a major factor in determining one 's identity and maintains reputation, whether it depends on race, class or heritage. The comparisons and contrasts that can be made between the novels The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald and Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Hurston are that the main characters struggle to find their identity and fit into their formal societies. Janie and Gatsby are both looking for true love, with the desire to benefit from a meaningful relationship and change their course in life. The influence of society plays a major role in both stories, which greatly impacts how they perceive the world. Within their…

    • 2239 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Though from different times, places, and backgrounds, Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby, and Jody Starks from Their Eyes Were Watching God, do have similarities. Both powerful, wealthy men, who married for no more than show- for it is simply what is expected. People like Tom and Jody live for power, and when attention is taken away from them, they will do whatever they can to bring the light back to them. Starks came across Janie when she was working on the farm of her first husband.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    F. Scott Fitzgerald uses double vision throughout the book, The Great Gatsby. An example of this is shown when Nick leaves Gatsby to go to work on page 154. After Daisy had proclaimed her love for both Tom and Jay, Jay still wanted to protect her, and was still hoping for Daisy to call him. He is so blinded by this love that he will do anything to be with her. The reader is drawn into this emotional attachment to Daisy and hopes that the relationship will work out.…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg are to represent and sybolize God looking down and over the harsh poverty of the 1920’s. 2. In The Great Gatsby, the weather is used to go along with how the characters are feeling in the novel. A good example of this is when Gatsby meets Daisy again the weather is gloomy, rainy, and storming.…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The eyes of Doctor Eckleburg can mean a lot of things. They can make people feel ashamed for their actions or rethink what they were doing. In my eyes, his eyes are like a reality reminder of what everyone is doing. Not only are they looked at as God’s eyes, but they also have a big impact on the characters in this story. The characters at the eyes and get somewhat of a worried feeling, but they usually just move on.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The sign was a billboard advertising Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, an eye doctor. The billboard was just a picture of two very huge eyes. The sign is right by the Wilsons's gas station that they lived above. The oculist sign was a witness to Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson's affair. The eyes were watching whenever they got onto the train together or drove past.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the books The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, both Gatsby and Janie set out on a journey to find what they thought love is. Barbra Will writes, ”Jay Gatsby, a figure marked by failure and shadowed by death throughout most of the novel, nevertheless achieves a form of "greatness"(Will). In both stories Gatsby and Janie set out to find this greatness of love in their lives. In their journey of finding this greatness of love, they find themselves failing and retraying over and over. When they find themselves failing they sometimes learn something from it.…

    • 1856 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chapters 3-5 deal with the overall perception of different individuals. Mr. Gatsby was perceived to be very weird and mysterious in many ways. One of the many parties that were thrown during the summer by Mr. Gatsby showed people that he is not very weird or mysterious even though people perceived him to be weird. Perception is everything especially when you are dealing with a lot of people. The way someone is perceived is the way they probably will be treated.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cars- wealth-unique, expensive, causes accidents, symbol of status Owl Eyes - The eccentric, bespectacled drunk whom Nick meets at the first party he attends at Gatsby’s mansion. Nick finds Owl Eyes looking through Gatsby’s library, astonished that the books are real. He sees the truth…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this passage the sheer size of Eckleburg’s eyes, and the fact that they are in “spectacles” gives them the quality of being watchful. However later in the passage Fitzgerald references the occultist sinking “into eternal blindness”. He then goes on to say that the eyes, although “dimmed by many paintless days” remain in their place. The way that the eyes have continued to stare out into the world long after they have been forsaken by mankind gives them the feeling of being an eternal presence. Their weathered quality makes the eyes, at the same time, feel all the more permanent, but also that they have a limit to their power.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    While Eckleburg remained a silent billboard, Owl Eyes was a character that brought life, like the Holy Spirit does. After reading The Great Gatsby, I have concluded that Owl eyes imitates the…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Based on this, we see how to blindness is untreated. The seeing part of the theme throughout the novel is represented by eyes being everywhere. The eyes can be a symbol God watching. To elaborate, Wilson says in the novel "God knows what you've been doing.....", while looking in the eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg (Fitzgerald). This…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Eckleburg had the “yellow spectacles” on to see clearly (23). Gatsby was a man blinded by his love for Daisy. Daisy was blind for her precious money and reputation. Wilson was blind to his wife having an affair. Myrtle was blind to never realizing that Tom will never love her.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this sense, the eyes can represent poverty, because they are placed in the middle of a poor town between the luxurious lifestyles of old money East Egg, new money West Egg, and the diverse and exclusive world of New York City. Here, the eyes can also be seen as a religious figure; as if the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are watching over the tragically beautiful place like the eyes of God. The color blue also makes an appearance many other times throughout the duration of the novel. At the beginning of Gatsby’s party that Nick is invited to, blue is used to express Gatsby’s internal sadness. While Nick is admiring this seemingly foreign lifestyle, the author says, “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (Fitzgerald 39).…

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It can be easier to judge other’s flaw, because it is can be difficult to see our own. However, can a flawed eye be worth killing an innocent and old man or can the act be justified by the murder himself? The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story that is told by the murder to justify the reason to kill the old man.…

    • 1022 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays